Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Cautious Optimism; A few months ago Biden urged energy providers to increase exports to Europe, to support Europe’s efforts to resist Russian energy blackmail. Now Biden is complaining that US inventories are unusually low, and wants providers to focus on rebuilding domestic inventories.
Biden Administration Urges Fuel-Export Cuts to Restock Northeast
‘Emergency measures’ may be needed if refiners don’t act
Energy Department points to below-normal Northeast stocks
By Ari Natter
27 August 2022 at 00:35 GMT+10 Updated onThe Biden administration is warning refiners that it may take “emergency measures” to address fuel exports as stockpiles of gasoline and diesel fuel remain near historically low levels in the Northeast.
While East Coast gasoline and diesel inventories are well below normal, exports of US refined products are at an all-time high, the Energy Department wrote in a letter last week to refiners that included Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., and Phillips 66.
“It is our hope that companies will proactively address this need,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm wrote in the letter, which was also sent to BP America, Chevron Corp., Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Shell Plc. “If that is not the case, the administration will need to consider additional federal requirements or other emergency measures.”
Emergency actions can be avoided if the industry prioritizes “building inventories during this critical window,” Granholm said in the letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg.
The Biden administration is effectively asking refiners to prioritize American consumers over maximizing profits by supplying fuel-starved Europe, which is facing an unprecedented energy crunch after the invasion of Ukraine triggered US sanctions on Russian oil supply. While US retail gasoline prices have eased after hitting a record nationwide average above $5 a gallon in June, the White House remains under pressure to tackle inflation ahead of the midterm elections.
…
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-26/biden-administration-urges-fuel-export-cuts-to-restock-northeast
A few months ago, Biden urged exporters to make up the energy shortfall in Europe, caused by Russia’s geopolitical games and Europe’s green energy insanity.
Biden increases LNG exports as Europe faces energy crisis
By Sara Schonhardt, Scott Waldman | 03/25/2022 07:25 AM EDT
The White House announced this morning that the U.S. will rapidly increase exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe as Germany and other E.U. nations try to diminish their dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
The move will ramp up LNG shipments carried by seagoing tankers by 15 billion cubic meters this year, according to a fact sheet released by the White House. As a comparison, the United States sent 22 bcm of LNG to Europe last year, the highest ever traded between the two continents.
The announcement promises to raise concerns about the trajectory of global climate action. The construction of LNG terminals and other infrastructure could put the U.S. and other nations on a path toward using gas for years to come, even as those countries strive to phase out fossil fuels, advocates warn.
…
Read more: https://www.eenews.net/articles/biden-increases-lng-exports-as-europe-faces-energy-crisis/
Arguably exporters are only doing what Biden asked them to – but now Biden is complaining they have followed his instructions?
If only politicians and protestors hadn’t tried so hard to block attempts to build energy delivery infrastructure for the energy starved North East. Then the North East could have supported Ukraine and maintained sufficient inventory for their own needs.
At least North East states have enough solar panels to make up the energy shortfall through winter, right?
A nation of idiots. Not much more can be said.
If Biden and Granholm came down with HIVCovidMonkeypox, it would serve them right.
Show some respect for Jumpin’ Joe Biden and Jennifer NoOneHome, as they lead us to the promised land. Mr. Biden is transitioning, from a human being, into a vegetable. Ms. NoOneHome is an expert on fertilizer, as she spread the BS while our Governor of Michigan for many years. So she was a natural for the Energy Department.
Fortunately, she’s ineligible to run for the presidency.
Can we deport Granholm back to Canada? She would fit in with the boy in charge there.
Half of the nation’s idiots are in the northeast (the other half is on the west coast). At least they will be the ones suffering from their own folly.
With a mix of natural gas, nuclear, hydro, and coal, we are well prepared for winter in the South (and I have two fireplaces and firewood, because I don’t depend on others for the well-being of my family.).
Best of luck to the rest of you ‘right’ minded thinkers.
One decent wood burning stove will outperform two fireplaces quite handily.
For 17 years I lived in a large, 2 story house with its main heat being a cast iron Franklin wood stove in the living room. It sat on a massive brick hearth with the flue pipe going into an also massive brick chimney up the center of the house. That would soak up a lot of heat and radiate it into the upstairs rooms. There was also a Magic Heat exchanger with a fan in the flue pipe above the stove. When nobody was upstairs that fan would be turned on to get more heat for the main floor. The Magic Heat heat reclaimers are still in production.
Not all of us on the left coast are idiots. We just suffer from their ideas.
Right there with you. Lots of firewood for the fireplace and a big tank of propane (plus charcoal) for cooking.
Of course the Northeast, specifically New England, could have solved a good portion of their energy problems if the NIMBYs, BANANAs, and Watermelon Environmentalists hadn’t killed a much needed natural gas pipeline between Pennsylvania and New England or powerlines from Hydro Quebec into central New England.
I can’t speak to the status of gasoline, diesel, and heating oil supplies here in New England, but I have to think that a good portion of any shortages is due to a number of factors, with some of Biden’s EO’s being among them the biggest ones.
Really, that should be a WESTERN WORLD of idiots. The eastern bloc is laughing its ass off at us.
Since the population of America originates from everywhere on Earth, it’s a bit difficult to criticize them as being different from any other human population. The world is in reality divided not by nations, not by “haves and have-nots”, but rather by the thinkers and the feelers. In America we do have a preponderance of “feelers” it seems.
As evidenced by the number of posts on social media applauding student loan forgiveness, especially for themselves…
Isn’t it always about themselves?
Russian support of anti-fracking groups in the U.S. and Europe seems to be paying off for Putin.
As well as the Chinese.
gee so youre telling me the union of concerned scientists and others are funded by russia?
yeah?
its more a landowner thing not wanting land and water screwed up by frakkers as far as I’ ve noticed
In Australia, the States or Commonwealth own the mineral rights. There is no upside to having a gas or oil well on your land; only the downside of the various hassles.
It’s more a non-land owner group trying to get money like the land owners have by claiming non existent problems. I live in PA gasland and observe it. People who have had gas leaking from water faucets for 100 years claiming that modern fracking caused it.
A late acquaintance had a small farm in PA. he reckoned the payment he got from the oil or gas (I don’t remember which) well on his land was the best thing since sliced bread.
“A nation of idiots.”
No, not true. The USA is currently a nation led by idiotic bureaucrats, all the way up to POTUS, as exemplified by the above article.
Unfortunately, it is also a nation where the majority of—but not all—voters also deserve an idiotic rating. But maybe a rating of “insane” should instead be applied to those voters, as in “Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over, and expecting different results each time.”
But we were warned over 200 years ago that this recent flood of malfeasance of office would occur some day:
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits . . .” — attributed, with some uncertainty, to Alexander Fraser Tytler (and frequently misattributed to Alexis de Tocqueville)
Yet, there are the sane independent thinkers that can see through what’s happening and offer up voices of reason in these troubled times. With and from them, there is hope.
James Madison described democracy well.
“Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
Federalist No. 10
if joe biden fell into the potomac it would be a disaster but if someone pulled him out that would be a catastrophe
ibid. “A government of idiots” or “A Confederacy of Dunces” – wonderful book BTW.
You know, for a fascist, Brandon seems especially clueless.
That’s cause he’s drain bamaged.
Regards,
Bob
“drain bamaged”
It’s hereditary.
Isn’t that “dain bramaged”?
And Biden was no brainiac to begin with
But he did beat up Corn Pop
This is a real thing… how did that happen?
I’ll raise you one past president….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMtfAySJWJo
And you may well (some would say rightly) laugh at Biden… I’m no huge fan, I think he has to go… but his poll numbers are ahead of Trumps at this point in his presidency.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/
Time for some new blood.
28-Aug-2020 – Trump approve 46%, disapprove 52%.
28-Aug-2022 – Biden approve 44%, disapprove 54%.
Same source – Rasmussen.
Media coverage – Trump 1% positive, 99% negative.
Media coverage – 89% positive, 1% negative, 10% drinking to forget they ever heard of the clown.
Same source – anonymous internet commenter.
Come again, Simon?
Rasmussen is hardly reliable. It notoriously leans towards the right.
Fivethirtyeight is far more reliable because it combines all the major polls.
At present…
Biden at 42.3%
Trump at 41.4%
But even if you are right so what? 2% ahead is not here nor there. You actually make my point. We need a new face.
Fivethirtyeight is ABC News, which is Walt Disney, nuff said.
Biden is literally a muppet at this point, other people move him about and make him read stuff out.
He’s not even a good muppet, at least Kermit had character.
Talking of what Americans approve of:
Harris – 34.8%
Pelosi – 35.5%
Schumer – 30.8%
You need more than a new face.
You have a few examples of a man misspeaking. If you watch Joe Biden, you will see it happens multiple times a day. He has also wandered off while his wife was speaking, he got lost on the White House grounds and he has tried to shake hands with phantom people many times.
Biden has a stutter, always has had. What’s Trumps excuse?
But like I have said. I’m no fan of either. Time for a new face.
TDS-boi comes to the aid of creepy demetia pedo Joe, what a surprise…not.
And Carlo Monte comes to the aid of Porn star screwer(while his wife was giving birth )Trump.
“Time for a new face.”
That’s all you want?
Keep the stupidity and mistakes, but present them in a better way.
Change the picture frame, keep the same old ugly painting, and put your feet on the desk while you admire your ugly emotional acquisition.
… you need to just give the painting to Goodwill, recognize your mistake, and stop trying to pretend that you know anything about art.
Calm down it’s a phrase to say we need someone new. New ideas.
If you think the dems ideas (biden has no ideas … he does what the staff tells him to do) are lacking, just say it.
He is not in charge.
Yep, that is why his doctor never appears in front of reporters to answer questions.
If he did, he would have to tell the truth, Brandon is senile.
BUT, after Brandon is gone, the next republican administration will be able to get the records and then the Treason Train will hit the rails.
A little bit of meth gets him about 3 hrs a day of function.
A power outage in DC this winter is just what the doctor ordered. Alas, too late for the midterms.
If we have an early winter as the horses are forecasting (been shedding out their summer coats since late June) maybe it won’t be too late.
Report this horse indicator to the IPCC
Better than the usual climate computer game
natures ALWAYS the best indicator ie I know when winters ended by the barley grass heading up
I know when its time to buy firewood as the stinging nettles start growing when the nights are 10c or under
Sadly the IPCC never looks at real world facts or even out the window at the weather. Every horse owner I know around here (eastern Kansas) says the same thing. Last time it happened (different horse, sadly he has passed on) we had snow in September.
DC is fortunate to be within PJM. While DC and some of the states, e.g., NJ and Maryland, within the footprint of this Independent Service Operator (ISO) may have truly nutty ‘renewable energy’ standards to punish the ratepayers of their local utilities, there is generally sufficient coal, gas and nuclear capacity there to keep the lights on.
Worst news of the day.
Good reason to join the LGBTQ community- Let’s Get Biden To Quit,
#nomojoe ?
President Harris. Just the idea makes me shudder.
Since the presidency is just the front for leftist elitists, we wouldn’t know the difference in practical terms. Still, it makes me shudder too.
For an additional shudder, imagine the presidential portrait hanging on the walls of schools. 🤢🤮
Can you imagine having to listen to that laugh every day?
I pity the press and especially the Secret Service on her detail.
There’s a Secret Service code to warn others on the detail when JB is walking around naked – Cobra, Cobra, Cobra and the code for his wife when she’s walking around naked – Clamshell, Clamshell, Clamshell. I wonder what the code is for Kamala?
puke puke puke?
Has anybody even seen her lately? She was supposed to be the border czar, but with all the busses to NYC and DC, and the caterwauling over that, she is AWOL, it seems.
She’s busy preparing word salads and smoking dope, which might explain the word salads.
saw a few days ago she was in Hawaii, livin’ it up on va’ cay.
She musta needed a break from the rigors of of serving as a non-existant VP or
something like that
Make a call to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown . . . he may still be in “tracking mode” on her.
My G0d she is dumb, but I think the new press secretary has her beat.
I would like to see both of them as contestants on the Jeopardy game show.
Immediately…
The northeast did have the highest number of fuel oil heated homes. They have nixed nat gas pipelines. When nat gas prices went way up several years ago they wanted lock in pricing to help manage money. So they locked in prices just before the fracking production kicked in. Then they complained they were locked into high prices.
North easterners seem to always make bad decisions.
It may have something to do with all those top tier ivy league universities.🎓
The worst freeloaders are the 13% w/grad degrees who owe a lot
of the debt, which obviously includes liars- I mean lawyers- & plenty
of other gubmint bloodsuckers, too.
Ditch Digger, roofer, plasterer, dog poop picker upper, hotel maids, casino workers of almost ALL stripes, etc. etc.
A massively regressive tax on the poor to benefit the wealthy, much like the $7500.00 EV tax credits, from the poor to the wealthy.
Can anyone figure out WHO the Democrat party represents yet?
“Can anyone figure out WHO the Democrat party represents yet?”
That’s easy, they represent those who can do the most for them, the powerful.
Sorry Hoyt, it was a rhetorical question. They represent the US oligarchs, or as you say, the powerful.
not all of the northeast is Mass types.
rural maine never gonna have gas lines w/o tons of blasting.
Gas lines don’t by necessity have to be buried.
BUT with NY blocking any new pipelines from the rest of the US, they don’t need to worry about that.
Actually New York can’t block gas pipelines passing through the state since that falls under interstate commerce and the states have no power to block or regulate it. Former Governor Cuomo found that out after he announced he would allow no more pipelines to enter New York, including those “just passing through”. The Feds told him he couldn’t block those passing through. Apparently there is plenty of historical legal precedence to back that up.
venezuela bailed out Mass with cheap heating oil some years back
They are looking for an excuse to use “emergency powers” to take control of the oil & gas industry.
The American elites believe that centralized government control of the economy can work this time if they do it.
No learning curve._________________
We have several posters who still claim that things were so much better when the British government owned the electric power industry.
Funny how free markets unfettered by governing bureaucrats tend to provide the best service to customers with the most efficient use of resources. It’s almost like it’s a natural law or something. But every generation has its self-important non-productive do-gooders who think they know better how to run everyone else’s life and business and “fix” things that aren’t broken. They manage to persuade gullible people with their bad ideas and get elected to positions of power to make everyone miserable. In the United States, they congregate in socialist/communist and “green” parties and have taken over the Democrat Party, but the Republican Party has some too..
I do not understand why such things as vital as energy should be left in the hands of politicians, rather it should be left to the free market, much more efficient and safer. I am not very happy with politicians these days.
Unfortunately we have a huge cadre of college educated idiots, who don’t believe that those who don’t have advanced degrees are capable of running their lives by themselves. Therefore the elites who run government must be in charge of everything.
In college, kids are taught that the government exists to take care of them. They love the idea so much, they want to impose that on everyone. Having to survive on their own hard work and decision making is the scariest thing they can think of.
College and advanced degrees are just demos. Reality is much more difficult.
I thought what you did was subsidize desired energy directions of government these days! Having told the petroleum industry they’ll be no longer needed, exploration and development predictably fell off.
Joe, now the only way to restart them is to give them a longterm contract for 10trillion cubic feet of gas a year and 5 and billion barrels a day petroleum.
And you would trust Joe to honor a contract?
This country, especially this administration, is not trustworthy.
Ask the Indian Nations whether they have full faith and confidence in the USA government’s ability to follow the rule of law.
They not only need the contracts, they need the permits to do the drilling and transport. And not fining them bazillions for methane emissions would help too.
The climatistas here in MA, who hate all fossil fuels, nuclear, pumped storage and wood for energy- now are complaining about solar and wind because the only places left to install them at scale is by clearing forests. They say we must save the forests to save the climate- but they don’t want the forests to be managed under multiple use principles- they want the forests locked up- they prefer to import wood products from thousands of miles away. They think the problem can be solved by putting solar on every building in the state. But, a few years ago the state’s energy czar said even if we did that, it wouldn’t come close to meeting the current electricity needs, never mind when the state’s net zero law kicks in requiring all new cars to be electric- and never mind when the state forces electric heat on everyone- and of course energy intensive industries which are moving out ASAP.
Using solar in New England’s as worthless as using it in N Europe. The only
unreliable “Nut Zero” source is offshore wind. NIMBYs deserve to see these
ugly monstrosities daily as a reminder of their stupidity when they look out their windows!
Build the first one the MINIMUM allowable distance from Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard estate.
If possible, surround his property with bird choppers. See if he and his guests like the infrasound and view “enhancement” much.
no mention from whale lovers of the effects of introducing massive amounts of low frequency sound into the endangered right whale preserves off Mass .
Do they even care, how about eagles and other raptors in the Midwest and Texas?
Nope.
Nope, that won’t happen, particularly after the Kennedy’s and other wealthy property owners killed the Cape Wind project because, G*d forbid, they might actually be able to see them!
The 1920 Jones Act, which requires US-owned, -built, and -operated ships
to transport goods between US ports, hits LNG bound for New England
especially hard. It also raises prices & causes supply chain problems
for them & other areas in the US with everything transported by ship.
New England contributed to their woes by not building natty pipelines,
too.
https://www.cato.org/blog/new-england-governors-seek-jones-act-relief-spike-winter-heating-bills-looms
https://www.aei.org/american-boondoggle/oil-and-the-jones-act/
The solution was to buy LNG from Russia, transshipped in Europe. Look how that worked out.
They buy it from Yemen and Libya since Russia isn’t able to sell it to us. It would be so much easier if Congress repealed the Jones Act. Then New England could by US natural gas and it wouldn’t have to come all the way across the Atlantic to get there.
Funny how NY, being between New England and the rest of the US, has been allowed to interfere with the Interstate Commerce of natural gas suppliers. There is actually a clause in the US constitution giving the Federal government the right to regulate such commerce.
As with Quebec obstructing an oil pipeline from the west to the east in Canada, my solution was simple, put the oil on the oldest most polluting ships available and run them down the St. Lawrence Seaway .as slowly and as noisily and during prime transport hours, and stopping to anchor in Montreal and Quebec City while supplying their own power with the noisiest and slinkiest method possible.
For NY, transport the CNG on many trucks as needed directly through New York City at rush hour only the 5 week days, not weekends. Also, increase the cost of NG to NY users to the equivalent of the end cost to other NE locations due to the increased cost of the truck transportation. Finally, if there is a shortage, shut off NY first.
Better yet, transport the oil across Canada by train, using the least-well-maintained track.
Aren’t they already doing that?
New York was already told by the Feds that they could not block a gas pipeline between Pennsylvania and New England since that is interstate commerce and only the Feds regulate that. There’s plenty of legal precedence (and the Constitution) that backs that up.
This is what happens when governments meddle in decisions that should be left to suppliers and consumers. Canada’s Prime Meddler has decided that there’s no business case for Canada to supply natural gas to a country that is practically begging for it.
Yes, Justin is galactically stupid
No, Sparkle Socks is a good little WEF marionette who responds faithfully to every tug on his strings.
He is being handsomely rewarded for his role and will continue to reap the riches taken from the wealth of the Canadian working and middle class…
…unless Justin is Sri Lanka-ed sometime this Winter before he can collect on the WEF promises.
He did promise something for Olaf sometime…didn’t he?
I get the feeling that Biden believes that oil companies have the ability to produce as much oil as they want and are able to change that amount at a moments notice.
Add to that Granholm’s telling them they should do that despite her shutting
them down in 5-10 yrs makes the “stuuuuuuuuupid” that much worse!
Forget Joey…he was incompetent before he became senile. He should be deported to China along with Hunter and Jimmy Biden…all the demrats want to control government power and enrich themselves.
And this surprises you how?
While Brandon is on the go he might like to know that his hated Brexit limeys are doing their bit
Sales of peat for use on private gardens and allotments will be banned in England from 2024. That should save 0.00000000006% of global emissions, maybe a little less.
Does your favourite steak, chicken, lamb, pork etc etc not taste very, well, very meaty? There is an answer
“Insects could give meaty taste to food – and help environment – scientists find
…
While mealworms have until now mostly been used as snacks for pets or as bait while fishing, they have potential as a food source for humans to help get the recognizable flavors of meat without the harmful impacts upon the climate”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/24/insects-meat-flavor-mealworms-research
We know what our governments are about. And listening to reason isn’t a feature or a… bug
What? Ya can’t just flip a switch and the production of fossil fuel energy comes gushing forth, or whatever?
The gross incompetency of the politicians and leftists continues to amaze me. Not.
Shows they have very little understanding how the real world actually works to keep the wheels of life turning.
Oh well. Winter is a coming, should be interesting to watch.
Be prepared for massive upheaval.
Hopefully it will be directed at the government lackeys that caused the misery but I think that it will just be chaos going everywhere.
No, the pols / academics / influencers / opinion makers will all blame it on the fossil-fuel industry, thereby justifying a Government takeover.
I’m sure they will try to deflect blame but I think that people won’t believe them anymore.
The dam will break and the mobs will come for the ones that have been lying to them for decades – Sri Lanka style.
The political class thinks the military or police will protect them but, they have families too and would not be willing to put it all on the line for some corrupt, lying politician.
Besides that, In the U.S. just the number of people that get hunting permits (they probably have a few guns) would constitute the largest standing army in the world. That’s why some politicians want their constituents disarmed.
The last liar doesn’t always win.
Yep, Jim, griff repeatedly tells us here that the Texas electricity failure of 2021 was due to fossil fuels not producing enough, not the unreliables producing next to nothing.
He already has the play book.
good if they do an “atlas shrugged” and shut it down and walk away
US refineries are already running near capacity. Who’s going to build new capacity when the government’s stated intent is to shut down the petroleum industry within a few years. It’s doubtful that anyone could even plan and obtain construction permits for a new refinery in 10 years. Even if someone did, it probably would come on line before 2035 when California’s ban on ICE vehicles is to take effect. Better get used to limited gas and diesel fuel supplies and very high prices.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-declare-regional-emergency-for-midwest-states-after-oil-refinery-has-unanticipated-shutdown
Living west of there in MN, there goes the usual “post-Labor Day” drop in
gas prices as they’ll use that as an excuse to keep $$$ up!
The point is to make ICE cars and fuel for them horribly expensive, then, EVs will look (comparatively) cheap.
There are always alternatives such as propane.
The government will kill rural residents who live far from natural gas lines and depend on propane for heat and whose electrical feeds won’t support high current fast charging or going total electric.
The coastal elites who tend to dominate Washington, DC politics have no use for those of us who truly live in flyover country – till the big cities start to starve!
Those refineries that are online are running near capacity. Last time I checked almost 11 million barrels a day of refinery capacity is offline.
“Increase production and then we’ll shut you down as soon as we can.”
— Semi-Fascist Joe Biden
Always fixing things.
Natural gas stocks aren’t looking too clever either. The difference is that oil demand has mostly limited seasonality (heating oil for the North East is an exception), and oil markets are not too stressed at the moment with prices having fallen from peaks as Russian oil gets shuffled around the world rather than being shut in or flared.
The problem with the gas is that if production disappoints and can’t fill export capacity and meet domestic demand at the same time then domestic prices will rapidly converge on export parity levels. That means going from $9 to $90/MMBtu, and riots that would make the BLM seem like a tea party. Better not be a harsh winter again.
A perfect storm is brewing. Sooner or later the natives may just realize the stupid in Brandon, his incompetent administration and policies. As a friend suggested who went through WWII, “Americans have not suffered.” Perhaps suffering is needed to shake Americans out of their “dazed and confused” slumber. Dimwits, dolts and lunatics seems to be popular nowadays amongst the sheep.
‘A perfect storm is brewing.’
It’s called ‘progressivism’, which is the near-religious belief that centralized decision making by experts, coupled with the implementation of these decisions on society using government force, generally leads to superior solutions to economic and societal problems. Since progressives will never concede to having made these problems worse, or to have actually caused them to arise in the first place, there are no natural limits to progressivism beyond its evolution into the full-blown fascism and collapse.
Paraphrasing James Ostrowski, from his book, ‘Progressivism: The Idea Destroying America’
The conceit of the socialists is that looking back through history, it’s not that hard to find instances where the market adopted, what we now know to be, a less than optimal solution.
I’m not saying that the solution chosen was wrong or bad, but that there was a slightly better option that was not chosen.
From this, the socialists convince themselves that had they been in charge at the time, they could have forced the markets to choose this “best” option.
The problem is that we only know what the best option would have been because we can see how everything played out. We have knowledge that wasn’t available to decision makers at the time.
PS: There are also many instances where even today, years and decades after the fact, “experts” still disagree as to what the best choices should have been. Different values mean different choices, and nobody can agree as to what the best values should be.
‘…it’s not that hard to find instances where the market adopted, what we now know to be, a less than optimal solution.’
Mark, not saying you’re wrong here, but valuation is always ‘subjective’, so would be interested in examples.
‘From this, the socialists convince themselves that had they been in charge at the time, they could have forced the markets to choose this “best” option.’
And as you point out, they would be wrong. By definition, socialism means no free markets, hence no free market prices, hence no information, hence no ability to efficiently allocate scarce resources.
During the so-called ‘calculation debate’ of the 1920’s, free market economists basically mopped the floor with their socialist counterparts using the above argument. Unfortunately, socialism and Keynesianism carried the day, since no government wants to hear that it has no role to play in the economy.
Let them have EVs, then no need for gas and diesel fuel.
People like this should not be allowed anywhere near the levers of government.
” Emergency measures”. In other words government takeover. Like Venezuela!
I thought releasing all that oil from the SPR was supposed to fix this and other problems. Now that it is gone, there are no reserves left to ameliorate the supply problems for the coming winter. Some people just don’t think.
Still 453m bbl left, but down sharply this year. It was about 700m bbl when full.
What the Biden Administration is doing, or attempting, is ad hoc governance. It is immature and incompetent. It will eventually end in tears, unless their propaganda successfully manages to demonize some scape goats in which situation it will end in atrocities.
I guess in retrospect at least closing the Indian Point nuclear power plant was not the best move at this time.
“The Biden administration is warning refiners that it may take “emergency measures” to address fuel exports as stockpiles of gasoline and diesel fuel remain near historically low levels in the Northeast. “
Gasoline won’t help with home heating. Heating oil and diesel fuel are somewhat similar and can sometimes be substituted but they are priced differently. If one is in short supply the other could very well be as well.
It’s not surprising that the entire western world is seeing energy shortages. Our professional politicians are so ignorant of the real world that they can’t possibly make good decisions. Its why the liberal left is losing the working class and the minorities. I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Quote:”At least North East states have enough solar panels
Enough for what, only any good for virtue signalling in winter in that part of the world.
Surely Shirley declares:”Enough of this fripperry and flouting!”
Because, back in Ye Olde Englande: aka: Blighty
BBC Headline:”Solar panel sales boom as energy bills soar
Curiouser and curiser – where are all the solar panels coming from….
and I do trust they’re not manufactured by slaves inside coal-powered fabs & factories and then chugged around the globe in tubs pushed along by Bunker Fuel
Oh no no no, Greta might pick up and go to school if that happened.
(Poor gurl, I do hope she doesn’t, schools are now all full of PC BS & Wrong)
Not to be too pedantic, but the low stocks of diesel and gasoline don’t have anything to do with higher LNG exports. Not that it makes the Biden maladministration any less of a train wreck.
Biden is duller than a flat rock.
Yet another example that this administration has absolutely no understanding of how the world works or what to do to solve problems. To paraphrase the Geico insurance commercials, this was “so simple, even a caveman could do it” … evidently the administration isn’t even at that level.
Paraphrasing, but remember Obama said about Slo Joe, “Don’t underestimate his ability to mess things up.” The one time Obama got something right.
Miracle of miracles, we still have one coal-powered plant here in NH called Merrimack Station. Oh, but it is only fired up when absolutely necessary because “carbon emissions”. I have this dream that the powers that be decide “hey, maybe we should crank that baby up, and keep her running 24/7 because energy crisis”.
Then I wake up and laugh and laugh.
Elections are coming this fall and Zombi Biden’s party is in hot water. They need votes bad so they have to keep the gas prices from rising any more. They are even stealing from the entire country to pay of student loads to buy votes. It’s sad that more than half the people in my country’s brains are white washed by MSM propaganda and can’s see through the BS.
Boy do I wish my whole G.D. Government died of Covid right now. We’d all be better off it they were all dead.
This collection of thoughts mixes two somewhat independent issues, (1) crude and refined petroleum and (2) gas as LNG.
U.S. Crude and refined domestic supplies and exports are just returning to pre-pandemic levels, but domestic production to supply the northeast may not be able to increase enough to meet demand. Over a 1/2 million barrels per day of refining production has been shuttered or idled and not replaced in the last 5 years. In that time period, the number of refineries has dropped from 141 operable refineries to just 125 operating plants. Those latter figures can be misleading, because the industry has been closing old, inefficient or poorly located plants for 40 years (about 300 in 1982) and more-than-replacing those with capacity expansion of existing plants (now only 125) for a net gain in throughput. As for fuel supply in the Northeast in particular, a 330,000 barrel per day Philadelphia plant dating back to the 1870s was permanently closed after a major fire and explosion in 2019 (see photo) and another 60,000 bpd was permanently closed in New Jersey, both of which would surely impact the Northeast market. The question is, in non-emergency times, does a president of the United States have the authority to force companies by executive order to shut down international contracts and divert products to domestic markets at reduced prices? Even if legal, diverting product delivery is not so simple as turning a valve.
As for LNG, that comes from natural gas production, the industry is being increasingly pressured by government, the financial system and environmentalists to curtail investment in exploration and production. Gas and LNG prices are as a result also increasing domestically due to these growing pressures as well as due to Bidenflation and Biden’s promised increased LNG sales to Europe.
We just had a two and a half year experiment on the subject of Presidential emergency powers, what constitutes and emergency (anything they say), and what can be done (anything they want). I don’t think that bodes well for the future.
Imma almost certain that Biden recently sold off part of the US’s strategic petroleum reserve to China.
But somehow Imma to suppose his warning about selling off resources should carry some weight?
Imma don’t believe him … Imma don’t trust him … Imma wants to see him thrown from office
I like Imma’s thinking!
“Freeze in the dark” is a wonderful educational tool. Highly recommended. Cure you of all Green energy bunc.
Is it too late to build a natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New England?
Way too late. Need to start with the Environmental Impact Statement, then the permits, then the useless law suits, then actually start digging …
Kinder Morgan tried that and failed with the The Northeast Energy Direct project. They pulled the plug somewhere in western Mass. Not enough customers, plus stiff opposition from enviros and NIMBYs. Could it be revived? Who knows?
I assume you meant that in jest and forgot the “/sarc” tag.
See: Mountain Valley Pipeline
Not to worry.
The government “experts” who got us into this mess.
Will make it worse.
related story from local maine newspaper
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/08/28/business/northeast-fuel-inventories/
Too bad we can’t delay the midterms until, say, February when more people will see and feel the results of “Going Green”.
The forecasting and planning window of the average American politician extends only as far as the next election.
Besides all the solar panels, won’t there be enough on- and offshore wind farms to cover the rest of the shortfalls?
Short answer – No, not by a long shot. For a much longer discussion there are dozens and dozens of posts on this site that discuss intermittency and nameplate vs real outputs for wind over time.
Just remember Biden’s electoral promise to the little girl who was frightened by the fear mongering lies driving Climate Change anxieties.
“Listen to what I am saying, no more fossil fuel, period” he said.
He went on to say, I am shutting it down,
Well, as winter looms ever larger in our northern hemisphere, someone should ask Biden a simple question.
Is his urge for control of refineries and distribution of fossil fuels, just another step along his promised road to shutting down fossil fuel?
The more recent article refers to gasoline and diesel inventories. The earlier one refers to liquified natural gas. Are the two articles comparing the same thing?
just one more global fustercluck caused BY ussa
sigh
serves the eu right for being such fools
Just looking at the image of President Biden used here and everywhere, how could anyone expect confidence. (history not withstanding)
It’s amazing the problems caused by stupid.